


Cold Brew

by Crowwy



Series: Coffee Talk [1]
Category: Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side
Genre: F/M, google what does it mean when a girl holds your hand, in which tamao is an idiot, seiji is a lightbulb
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:07:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23871358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crowwy/pseuds/Crowwy
Summary: Tamao has zero experience with relationships, but he'll try his damn best.
Relationships: Bambi/Konno Tamao
Series: Coffee Talk [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1720366
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	Cold Brew

**Author's Note:**

> hi this is my first work on ao3 and also my first work in a long, long time! i hope yall like it. this is based off my run where somehow, tamao was always showing up with seiji after school even though i only met seiji once (1x) to fulfill some of tamao's CG conditions. i changed my bambi's name a bit here because the game cant actually pronounce akie, though :'D

When you first see her shuffling awkwardly in front of the Student Council Room, you're fairly panic-striken. You had realized quickly that this was the freshman who had just signed up to join the Student Council then, and you really shouldn't have put off pinning the meeting notice to the door. But you were relieved, too, because she must not have been waiting for long if she was still here.

You ran up and apologized to her, and she looked like someone had sounded a foghorn in her ear with how suddenly she turned to face you. And then, she had to tilt her head up to make eye contact with you - and you could almost see the gears turning behind those big, expressive eyes before she decided to take a step back and bow in greeting. Yuuki was her name. Akie Yuuki.

Akie Yuuki, you came to discover, was incredibly diligent and incredibly efficient. Without fail, she would show up for Student Council meetings on the dot and volunteer to take minutes before anybody would even mention them. She quickly became the secretary's understudy, and soon she was sharing his duties almost equally. Her grades were consistently at the top of her year from what you heard from the teachers, even though you saw that she was (probably?) not a study bug, she was often seen hanging out with Hanatsubaki and Ugajin, sometimes with the Sakurai brothers too, who were apparently her childhood friends.

And of course, she also asked you out every other Sunday a few weeks after she had joined the Student Council. 

In hindsight, it probably was quite obvious that she liked you. Why else would she make the effort to invite you out, then? But as someone with near-zero experience with relationships, hindsight was indeed 20/20. To your credit, you did realize her game a month or two in to those regular outings. Seiji called you an idiot for not realizing sooner, though. You agreed.

You tried to avoid the topic even as you found yourself falling for her straightforward, sincere honesty. It stood in stark contrast with her smiles that always seemed crooked and always seemed to be accompanied by coy glances up at you from her low vantage point. A cat that somehow knew you were prey even though you were so much bigger than her. 

You take to asking Seiji to accompany you when you ask her out for coffee because you're too chicken to call out to her otherwise in school, and he always rolls his eyes but always obliges anyway. Even makes more effort than usual to be friendly, because he'll be damned if he doesn't play a good wingman.

And then you notice that while Akie (Yuuki? You've been deliberating whether it's alright to take that next step...) is only passingly acquainted with Seiji, she actually makes a genuine effort to talk to both of you, asking questions and expressing sincere interest, and even the frosty Seiji comes to grow fairly fond of her. Her coffee even goes cold, sometimes, listening to the two of you banter. Like when she's particularly interested in whatever the topic of the morning Student Council meeting is. 

One day, she asks about love and falling in love - and whether either of you had fallen in love. Seiji counters with a "Hey, the people who ask that sort of question normally are in love, themselves." You see him glance meaningfully at you from the corner of your eye. You swallow your nerves and follow up with asking her (almost demandingly) if she had fallen in love with anyone.

There is a split second where you don't notice Yuuki's (Akie's?) eyes shifting to you as if she were one of those novelty cat-shaped clocks with the huge eyes, and mentally running the math before she smoothly takes a sip of her 4:1 milk coffee and responds with a simple "No comment." Seiji, too, sips his tea. You steep in your own lukewarm ineptitude. 

So then, months pass with the same comforting rhythm of Akie inviting you on dates every week, and eventually the 31st of December arrives and you're walking together on the beach. The seabreeze bites hard at your skin, mixed with the chilly winter air. Waterlogged sand cushions your feet, but leaves imprints of your footsteps. You notice that your feet are quite large next to Akie's, and that she's managed to fall into step with you despite what you thought was a fairly significant difference in stride length. 

Of course she would. She's holding your hand. "Tamao-senpai, you like quiet places like this, don't you?" 

You've forgotten when this became a normal thing, but perhaps it was in the middle of autumn, when Akie had taken hold of your hand while you were hiking up Mt. Habataki, complaining that it was cold and you were walking too fast and she had somehow dropped one of her gloves along the way. So, you let her hold onto it as you walked. And over the next few dates, she would wordlessly take your hand as you set off from your meeting points as if it were the most natural thing in the world even though you felt like you were going to boil over in embarrassment.

"The sea looks so different in Winter." You remark, using your free hand to adjust the collar of your coat.

"Mm. It's almost lonely." Yuuki nods, and she helps you brush off some lint on your coat.

You flush immediately, but not because of her touching you, because somehow you've gotten used to that over the months. "Ah, I'm sorry, the mood is gloomy now..." You blurt out as you turn to face her, apologetic.

Yuuki tilts her head to the side in that particular way she does when she's about to say something that will make you simultaneously embarrassed and happy, and then your suspicions are confirmed when she smiles warmly, squeezing your hand. "What are you talking about? I said, "almost". So that means it's not lonely now. I have you with me, right?"

"...Yuuki-san."

If she's surprised, she doesn't show it. Yuuki continues smiling. "Yes?"

"I...can I call you that, from now on? That is, if it's fine with you."

She chuckles with the same maddeningly crooked smile, and you feel the fluttering butterflies in your stomach light on fire at once. "Of course. Tamao-kun." The butterflies explode. 

You somehow manage to stop yourself from letting out an undignified yelp of joy, but a slightly less undignified gasp of 'I did it!' makes its way out instead. A few seconds pass, and your face reddens. You reason with yourself that the wind may be nipping at you too much for comfort.

"I love you."

You hear Seiji's voice in your head, and he's calling you an inelegant blubbering fool right now.


End file.
